Dress form with core



Jan. 9, 1968 T. CRAM ET AL 3,362,593

DRESS FORM WITH CORE Original Filed Dec. 15, 1965 flvve/vraes.

?:b\\\\\\ 74 I v 4V1 I 52/ 152K Clea/w P5752 L. DE LUGQ United States Patent 3,362,593 DRESS FORM WITH CORE Teri York Cram, 11551 Dona Evita Drive, Studio City, Calif. 91604, and Peter L. De Luca, Elgin, 11].; said De Luca assignor to said Cram Continuation of application Ser. No. 513,950, Dec. 15, 1965. This application Apr. 24, 1967, Ser. No. 634,807

7 Claims. (Cl. 223-68) This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 513,950, filed Dec. 15, 1965, now abandoned.

This invention relates generally to dress forms and mannequins, and more particularly concerns improvements in the construction of such devices employing resilient plastic bodies.

The use of resilient plastic body dress forms has been found to result in some undesired misshaping of the body as where a jacket or dress fitted tightly on the form deflects the body inwardly to greater extent in some areas than in other areas. Also, the amount of plastic material in such bodies is objectionable from the standpoint of expense. One way in which both of these problems may be met is to provide a core within the body shaped to reduce the amount of resilient plastic body material needed and also to provide a somewhat uniform and reduced body thickness over the core; however, this approach reduces body yieldability to overfitting of a size defining jacket, and it has been thought necessary to use low density foam plastic material for the body in an effort to increase such yieldability. On the other hand, low density plastic materials are more difficult to foam.

It is a major object of the present invention to overcome these and other problems associated with prior dress forms, and to provide unusually effective combinations and sub-combinations of advantages in structure, function and result embodied in an improved dress form also usable as a mannequin. 7

Basically, the form comprises a resiliently compressible plastic body having the shape of a portion of an upright human torso, core means in the body to resist generally transverse deformation of the body portion, with the body having multiple recesses sunk into its inner side facing the core to increase the external compressibility of the body. Typically, a jacket is fitted over the body to contract or compress it to desired dimensional shape, i.e. closely corresponding to the shape of the person for Whom a dress is to be tailored. The recesses in the plastic body afford desired compressibility despite a substantial reduction in plastic thickness caused by the use of the core, and the overall assembly is lifelike, stable, light in Weight, and easy to handle in use.

More specifically, the core may be advantageously formed to have hollowness and with a relatively thin wall, there being a vertical standard to support the core; the body may be attached to the core as by bonding; retaining means may be attached to the body front for urging the jacket inwardly between the body busts, thereby facilitating ease of assembly of the core and body and also distributing jacket retention loading over the body and core; and the plastic body may advantageously consist of a high density, easily foamed plastic material such as polyurethane, with a density of from 2.5 to 4.0 pounds per cubic foot.

Additional objects and advantages include the provision of neck and arm terminal shields, as well as an up and down spring action support standard.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention, as well as the details of an illustrative embodiment, will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation showing one preferred ex- Patented Jan. 9, 1968 ample of a dress form or mannequin incorporating vanous features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section taken on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical fragmentary section taken on line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 illustrates a rear view of a jacket usable on the form body; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side elevation showing details of a height adjustment for the form.

In FIGS. 13, the dress form 10 is illustrated to include a resiliently compressible plastic body having the form of a human female torso between the hip and neck regions. One such body is indicated at 11, and it may comprise a molded foam material such as an expanded or foamed polyurethane plastic product, or its equivalent. The body is typically molded as front and rear sections seen at 12 and 13 in FIG. 2, these being joined as by adhesive bonding at the vertical plane 14. The sections are also typically bonded to an inner core 15 that serves several functions, one of which is to resist such transverse deformation of the body material as would result in misshaping of the dress form when tight fitting jacket 16 is applied over the plastic body.

In accordance with an important aspect of the inven tion, the body has multiple recesses 17 sunk in the inner side 18 that faces the core, recesses extending throughout the vertical dimensions of the bodysections and also completely about the core, with the result that the external compressibility of the body is substantially enhanced, as compared with compressibility in the absence of such recesses. Typically, the conformation of the recesses is such as to result in body material projections 19 presented toward the core for adhesive bonding thereto.

The relatively rigid core 15 may be hollow and of lightweight, thin walled construction, hollow molded fiber being one usable material. An expanded rigid plastic foam core may also be used. A vertical standard 20 supports the core, and may include telescoping members 21 and 22, the latter carried by a suitable base 23. Member 21 has suitable rigid supporting attachment to the bottom wall 25 of the core 15, as indicated by flanges 26 and 27. FIGS. 1 and 5 show a novel releasable latch or catch 49 to hold member 21 at selected elevation on member 22. The catch includes lower strip 50 attached to member 21, and upper strip 51 having an opening 52 to pass the member 21. Strip 51 is attached at 53 to strip 50, and is downwardly deflectable to disengage the side of member 22 exposed through opening 54 in member 21. Member 51 may then be adjusted vertically and strip 51 released to engage and latch the member 22 at proper height.

The body busts 29 are compressed or held inwardly toward the core portion-s 28, and the resilient body itself is adjustably compressed, by the jacket or girdle 16 which may be non-stretchable, as for example a lightweight canvas, or it may be slightly stretchable, so long as it remains close fitting about the body. The jacket may be constructed of several panels 30-37 with adjustable seams as indicated at 38 for example, to result in a shape closely conforming to the selected female size or contour when the jacket is fitted over the body 11. In certain cases the jacket may not be used, as for example when the body 11 serves the function of a mannequin.

FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 shows the jacket as incorporating a back vertical zipper 39. The front portion of the jacket may be retracted inwardly between the busts 29 as by an attachment at 40 to a transverse rigid support member 41 retained by the body front section 12 at 42, whereby the retracting load is distributed to the body and core. At tachment 40 may comprise a tie string attached to the inside of the jacket at center front position between the busts, as better seen in FIG. 4. The string is tied to support member 41 just before the jacket is wrapped about the form. A front zipper 50 extends from the bust region to the bottom of the jacket, and may be zipped up with the front zipper, a few inches at a time, so that the front and back foam may be distributed evenly, without undue load pressure or creasing. Additional zippers may be used at the side seams, or other seams, for the purposes of crease elimination, retention of natural anatomy, and ease of installation of the jacket onto the form.

Finally, cover pieces such as thin plastic shields 44, 45 and 46 are applied to the arm and neck terminals for protection and finish, and they may be held in place by pins 47, or they may be attached to the jacket by hand stitching through the shield flanges and the jacket material, which extends under the flanges. The arm shields can also make possible a shortening of the shoulder dimension by horizontally compressing the foam at the shoulder line, placing the shields in position over the compressed foam and securing the shields by pins placed through the shield rims and into the foam, or by thread tacking the shield rims to the jacket at the desired shortened shoulder dimension. The cover pieces may consist of fabric, stitched to the jacket, to provide a complete cover for mannequin use. Also, the zippers may be hidden in the side seams to facilitate such use.

Typical foam plastic polyurethane usable for the body has a relatively high density of between 2.5 and 4.0 pounds per cubic foot.

We claim:

1. In combination, a resiliently compressible foam plastic hollow body having the external form of an upright human female torso between the neck and hip areas, a thin walled hollow core located interiorly of the body and supporting the body at the exterior thereof, the body having multiple hollow recesses sunk outwardly into the inner side thereof facing the core and distributed over the major generally vertical extent of said body inner side enclosing the core to increase the external compressibility of the body, the body having busts and certain of said recesses being located directly interiorly of the busts whereby the bust plastic is spaced from the core, the body including inwardly directed multiple projections the inner terminals of which are bonded to the core at locations distributed over said major extent of the body inner side,

said recesses being of substantial depth in relation to the overall thickness of the body at the recess locations.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the body foam plastic is of about 2.5 to 4.0 pounds per cubic foot density, the body comprising vertically elongated front and rear sections each terminating at locations extending upwardly from the body hip area.

3. The combination of claim 1 including a jacket fitting over the body, and jacket retaining means including a laterally extending support member located between the busts and laterally penetrating the busts and a flexible holder removably attaching the jacket to the support member and holding the jacket inwardly between the busts, the jacket retaining means being everywhere spaced outwardly from the core, one of said body projections being bonded to the core inwardly of said support memher.

4. The combination of claim 3 including multiple individually adjustable generally vertical jacket zippers spaced about the body, the jacket holding the body in compressed condition.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein the core has upper generally horizontal extent inwardly of the body shoulder and neck area and lower generally horizontal extent inwardly of the lower terminal of the body, and including a standard projecting below the body and attached to said lower extent of the core.

6. The combination of claim 5 including thin plastic shields attached to the body and covering body neck and arm terminals.

7. The combination of claim 5 in which the standard includes vertically telescoping parts, and a latch holding the parts at selected telescoping position, the latch including interconnected upper and lower elements one of which is attached to one of said parts and the other of which is urged into jamming sideward engagement with the other of said parts, said other element being deflectable out of said engagement.

References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,479,443 1/1924 Bailey 223-68 3,134,524 5/1964 Stewart 223-68 3,305,146 2/1967 Cram 22368 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

G. V. LARKIN, Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A RESILIENTLY COMPRESSIBLE FOAM PLASTIC HOLLOW BODY HAVING THE EXTERNAL FORM OF AN UPRIGHT HUMAN FEMALE TORSO BETWEEN THE NECK AND HIP AREAS, A THIN WALLED HOLLOW CORE LOCATED INTERIORLY OF THE BODY AND SUPPORTING THE BODY AT THE EXTERIOR THEREOF, THE BODY HAVING MULTIPLE HOLLOW RECESSES SUNK OUTWARDLY INTO THE INNER SIDE THEREOF FACING THE CORE AND DISTRIBUTED OVER THE MAJOR GENERALLY VERTICAL EXTENT OF SAID BODY INNER SIDE ENCLOSING THE CORE TO INCREASE THE EXTERNAL COMPRESSIBILITY OF THE BODY, THE BODY HAVING BUSTS AND CERTAIN OF SAID RECESSES BEING LOCATED DIRECTLY INTERIORLY OF THE BUSTS WHEREBY THE BUST PLASTIC IS SPACED FROM THE CORE, THE BODY INCLUDING INWARDLY DIRECTED MULTIPLE PROJECTIONS THE INNER TERMINALS OF WHICH ARE BOUNDED TO THE CORE AT LOCATIONS DISTRIBUTED OVE SAID MAJOR EXTENT OF THE BODY INNER SIDE, SAID RECESSES BEING OF SUBSTAINTIAL DEPTH IN RELATION TO THE OVERALL THICKNESS OF THE BODY AT THE RECESS LOCATIONS. 